Foreign Tire Sales Announces Voluntary Recall of Tires

UNION, N.J.--Foreign Tire Sales, Inc. (FTS) of Union, New Jersey today
announced a
recall of about 255,000 Chinese-made, steel-belted radial tires that
it
imported into the United States. The tires were defective because
they
lacked a safety feature called a “gum
strip”
or contained gum strips that were not large enough, FTS has
determined.

The tires were sold from early 2004 to mid 2006 as replacement tires
for
SUVs, pickups and vans under the brand names Westlake, Compass and
YKS.
They were manufactured in China by the Hangzhou Zhongce Rubber
Company,
Ltd (HZ). FTS designed and contracted for light-truck radial tires
from
HZ that had gum strips between the steel belts, and began to sell
them
in the U.S. in 2002. The gums strips help to protect against the
tread
or belt separating from the tire, which can cause accidents. But HZ
changed the construction of the tires without informing FTS.

Independent tests conducted by FTS in May, 2007 determined that the
tires without gum strips or with insufficient gum strips posed a
safety
hazard. The company then informed the National Highway Traffic Safety
Administration (NHTSA) of the safety defect and has cooperated fully
with NHTSA on the recall that commences today.

Richard Kuskin, President of FTS, noted that “Consumers
should know that the affected tires meet all federal motor vehicle
safety standards. But we went the extra mile by testing them and
determining that they did not meet our standards, which are more
rigorous. Nothing is more important to us than the safety of
consumers
who use our tires. When our extra tests revealed that tires with the
changed construction had a safety defect, we came forward and let
NHTSA
and American consumers know.”

FTS recommends that consumers check the sidewall of their tire(s) for
the brand, size, model and Department of Transportation (DOT) number.
The recall applies to Westlake, Compass and YKS brand tires with the
following on their sidewalls:

No other tires are involved in the recall. Consumers whose tires are
in
the categories above and who bought the tires from early 2004 through
mid 2006, should call the toll free number 1-888-899-9293 or go
online
at www.foreigntire.com for
further instructions.